Channels & viewing

[Nancy8858]

In general, why are there so many commercials and intermissions on the Roku channel? Hard to watch a show when the commercials and intermissions are longer than the show itself.

[AvsGunnar]

@Nancy8858 

As you are probably aware, the free channels available on Roku (like the Roku Channel), are free because they contain ads.

This seems to come in ebbs and flows.  At times, I will only see 4 or 5 short ads per a program.  Other times, one break may contain 4 or 5 ads just at that point.  

Some free channels are worse than others and seem to only contain content with the sole purpose of generating revenue from pushing ads.  The Roku Channel is one of the better ones, but at times does shoot itself in the foot by showing so many ads that people are turned off to the idea of using their channel.

Sometimes I question some of the decisions made by Roku.  You would think by now that even though they can't control how other channels operate, they could provide an unparalleled viewing experience on their own channel by striking a balance with the placement of ads.

If I was the cynical type, I would say an increased presence of ads disrupting the viewing experience is an oft-used tactic by services preparing to offer an ad-free experience. (for a nominal fee of course.)  I certainly hope this is not the case here and is just the result of poor programming decisions/judgement.

[Dontask4myname6]

I just finished watching one Father Knows Best episode and had 3 commercial breaks with 1:30 for each break. 2 weeks ago I could watch it without any ads. Getting like YouTube now with the ads in weird spots and dragging on. 

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@AvsGunnar wrote:

@Nancy8858 

As you are probably aware, the free channels available on Roku (like the Roku Channel), are free because they contain ads.

This seems to come in ebbs and flows.  At times, I will only see 4 or 5 short ads per a program.  Other times, one break may contain 4 or 5 ads just at that point.  

Some free channels are worse than others and seem to only contain content with the sole purpose of generating revenue from pushing ads.  The Roku Channel is one of the better ones, but at times does shoot itself in the foot by showing so many ads that people are turned off to the idea of using their channel.

Sometimes I question some of the decisions made by Roku.  You would think by now that even though they can't control how other channels operate, they could provide an unparalleled viewing experience on their own channel by striking a balance with the placement of ads.

If I was the cynical type, I would say an increased presence of ads disrupting the viewing experience is an oft-used tactic by services preparing to offer an ad-free experience. (for a nominal fee of course.)  I certainly hope this is not the case here and is just the result of poor programming decisions/judgement.

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@AvsGunnar wrote:

@Nancy8858 

As you are probably aware, the free channels available on Roku (like the Roku Channel), are free because they contain ads.

This seems to come in ebbs and flows.  At times, I will only see 4 or 5 short ads per a program.  Other times, one break may contain 4 or 5 ads just at that point.  

Some free channels are worse than others and seem to only contain content with the sole purpose of generating revenue from pushing ads.  The Roku Channel is one of the better ones, but at times does shoot itself in the foot by showing so many ads that people are turned off to the idea of using their channel.

Sometimes I question some of the decisions made by Roku.  You would think by now that even though they can't control how other channels operate, they could provide an unparalleled viewing experience on their own channel by striking a balance with the placement of ads.

If I was the cynical type, I would say an increased presence of ads disrupting the viewing experience is an oft-used tactic by services preparing to offer an ad-free experience. (for a nominal fee of course.)  I certainly hope this is not the case here and is just the result of poor programming decisions/judgement.

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[AvsGunnar]

@Dontask4myname6 

This is generally how I find new channels/apps.  If too many ads start to appear on a give channel/app, I give another one a shot.  I recently discovered RealChill.  

I gave up on Tubi a long time ago due to the ads and I only install it when checking into a user issue.  There is so much free content out there that much of the same programming/content is available on multiple free channels/apps simultaneously.

As users of the free channels, we need to realize ads are part of the deal.  As providers of free channels, they need to realize there is a limit to how many ads users are willing to tolerate.

[SwiftTransient]

I just finished watching the movie “Race To Freedom: Um Bok Dong”, and there were 9 commercial breaks.

When I first started watching the Roku Channel there would be 1 commercial in a typical 30-minute episode within a series, and 4 commercials in a feature-length movie.

This has increased lately, as mentioned to 9. The lengths used to be either 30-seconds or 1-minute, now they tends to be 1.5-minutes.

I didn’t mind the commercials as they way they were before, and I know they have to run ads to pay for the service, but the duration and frequency seem to be increasing. The commercials (and how loud they were compared to the programmes) were the reason we cancelled our satellite TV service this past summer.

[RokuKarla]

Hello @SwiftTransient

Thanks for reaching out to the Roku community!

Please be advised that Roku (and/or its partners and content providers) may display advertising and promotional messages through your Roku products and content services. As a free service, like the Roku Channel, Tubi, Crackle, and PBS include commercials. Currently, there isn't a paid, ad-free version of Roku available. To learn more, you can visit this link 


Regards,
Karla

[eab]

Last night I tried to stream a show on the Roku channel. There were 3 commercials in the beginning, and then there were 9 commercials in the middle of a 22 minute show. It’s absurd, and coupled with the fact that since the last update in Oct., the video freezes while the audio continues whenever it goes to commercial…the channel is pretty much unwatchable.
My question is, why bother? No one will try to watch under these circumstances, and no one will see the commercials, so no benefit to advertisers. I guess another comment was on target-it’s a patent ploy to convert to a paid platform.

Roku has changed dramatically, there is no customer service for their devices, and now their “free” channel has become worthless. Sadly they have decided that their loyal customers are unimportant.

I’m sure the market will take care of this, there are other providers who care about retaining their customer base.

[cceimjc123]

The commercials intensity as it is now, it's not worth watching, even if it is free. I'm thinking I take this ROKU thing and stick it in a drawer someplace!

[mwollman]

I am sick of 3 to 4 commercials every few minutes.

[hingedthinker]

I watched 13 seasons of Heartland without a commercial on paid Up Family channel. Now the amount of commercials frequency is ridiculous…